Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Hawaii's Gun Restrictions Deemed Unconstitutional

On the heels of two Ninth Circuit Court decisions striking down restrictions on concealed carry permits in California, the same court just put Hawaii on notice that some of its gun restrictions need to be changed as well.
Early in February, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that San Diego County's rule requiring residents to show "good cause" before being allowed to obtain a concealed carry permit violates the Second Amendment. "The court ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is, in and of
itself, a sufficient cause for bearing arms for self-defense. Moreover,
it is a sufficient cause both inside and outside of one's domicile,"
Breitbart reported on February 13. Forcing citizens to prove to the government why they should be
allowed to gain a carry permit is a process called "may issue." With a
may issue rule, government puts the onus on citizens to prove that they
should be allowed to observe their Second Amendment rights. The Ninth
Circuit essentially informed the California county that it must
institute a "shall issue" rule, one that assumes the citizen is eligible
for a permit unless government can prove otherwise. This same rule has now been struck down for Hawaii and by the same Circuit Court. With the case Baker v. Kealoha (9th Cir. Mar. 20, 2014),
the Ninth Circuit ruled that Hawaii's restrictions were just like San
Diego County's and the rules would have to be reworked to conform to
earlier court decisions...more